Current Status of PVP

metabLast3r

I'm usually not one to complain about anything really. For me, it has been a tactical balancing act from my end to keep up with the builds/equipment/strategy in PVP from Day 1. I love PVP. For instance, the coordination that is involved for a team to take control of a keep and to work with other same-faction groups in PVP in order to take control. I am also one for single player PVP skill and strategy. I've built my toon to the point where he can outlast, sustain, take a beating, and assist the group in any way.

Here's the gripe. I understand that the vast majority will always pick a skill that produces numbers or kills. It's refreshing when I can face someone and go at it, and the better man/woman win. From my current point of view it does not feel like there is skill involved. Is spamming a specific skill considered player skill? I'm not referring to wrecking blow, surpassed that hump (Except for those that macro, which I can't compete with). I'm referring to the zerg balls running around with proximity detonation. Is that what a person strives for on the skill line for the whole group to have and win? I mean we can make it a proximity detonation party, but that wouldn't be fun to me. Due to the nerf on nirnhoned, for me at least, hard for me to counter that with my current setup. I can take the initial hits of about 3-4, but when a full group runs it, ridiculous. Not to mention, it's spammable.. (Correct me if I am wrong)

What are your thoughts?

PhatGrimReaper

tbh, I don't think we'll ever see an end to the 'Zerg'. The design of the maps and objectives leans heavily toward large group 'vs' large group. In fact, the PVP part of this game was promoted as a game where epic battles of large opposing armies would take place in one place, at one time. This was one of their main draw cards.

I won't be a hypocrite, my DK ran Proxy as a heavy armor spell damage build in 1.6 and is running WB now as a Stam build, but it blows my mind when I see a train of 40+(I'm talking guilds with two raids, not one guild group + pugs) swarming around the second floor of a keeps outer wall spamming Proxy, Tornado, Springs and Ele Ring with no enemies anywhere near them.

I guess there will always be a 'Best Skill' for any given situation and people are bound to use that skill. Proxy was meant to be a zerg busting ability and it was effective in the right build and used well... I've seen & been in groups that have wiped groups with huge numerical advantage using proxy+ults, but the changes to it in 1.7 actually make it less viable for the smaller groups... it just doesn't pack the punch it used to. If 20 people all use it though, even with the reduced damage, it's still gonna hurt some.

WalksAmongShadows

metabLast3r wrote: »

I'm usually not one to complain about anything really. For me, it has been a tactical balancing act from my end to keep up with the builds/equipment/strategy in PVP from Day 1. I love PVP. For instance, the coordination that is involved for a team to take control of a keep and to work with other same-faction groups in PVP in order to take control. I am also one for single player PVP skill and strategy. I've built my toon to the point where he can outlast, sustain, take a beating, and assist the group in any way.

Here's the gripe. I understand that the vast majority will always pick a skill that produces numbers or kills. It's refreshing when I can face someone and go at it, and the better man/woman win. From my current point of view it does not feel like there is skill involved. Is spamming a specific skill considered player skill? I'm not referring to wrecking blow, surpassed that hump (Except for those that macro, which I can't compete with). I'm referring to the zerg balls running around with proximity detonation. Is that what a person strives for on the skill line for the whole group to have and win? I mean we can make it a proximity detonation party, but that wouldn't be fun to me. Due to the nerf on nirnhoned, for me at least, hard for me to counter that with my current setup. I can take the initial hits of about 3-4, but when a full group runs it, ridiculous. Not to mention, it's spammable.. (Correct me if I am wrong)

What are your thoughts?

I bolded out the part where I believe your problem lies. Like PhatGrimReaper said, there will always be a counter - skill or tactic - to you. With big patches like we just experienced, these often change and require you to adjust your build and/or strategy. It's a pity when that means you can no longer play effectively the way you used to love to play, but alas, such seems to be the nature of MMORPG games. Good players also have a tendency to go for the most effective builds/tactics, and it is usually those that get adjusted. Sometimes what happens is, when they balance something overpowered it can have drastic effects on things they didn't intend to and make certain niche builds and playstyles no longer effective.

I will also share a tip regarding countering proximity detonation. The key lies in the fact that they changed the detonation time to 8 seconds, that's a very long time in pvp. Time your advances right, then divide and conquer my friend.

metabLast3r

WalksAmongShadows wrote: »

The key lies in the fact that they changed the detonation time to 8 seconds, that's a very long time in pvp.

This is correct and the thing is about that is, I can normally see the red ring in time to dodge roll out of it. I've dodged several at a time as trails of folks coming in with it ticked on. I believe the majority of the issue lies in the imbalance of folks that are on at any given time in support of a faction. For instance, I played for a considerable amount of time last night, the opposing force had high level pvp 'enthusiasts' on. Mind you, I play on the Aldmeri Dominion. Most of their group consisted of Generals and/or 20+ level pvpers, which I know have been playing for a very long time . Not to mention, they may have been running with their emperor. That's the icing on the cake. The group I've been running with are not new, the tactics are there, to include we have some very knowledgeable players. We would get into huge initial battles and then with a snap of a finger, wiped. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about effective tactics and that is what's working right now. The major problem I see is the effective range and damage output. Feels like a zerg ball of multiple suicide bombers coming for you, you can't mix in and fight.